The quote stemmed from a motion by Rosen and Weissman to have their
criminal case — on charges of accepting classified material from a Defense
Department official — dismissed in 2007. The motion quoted attorneys for
AIPAC as saying that the U.S. government threatened to charge the lobbying
group with violating the 1917 Espionage Act unless the two lobbyists were
fired and their funding for legal fees severed. Although AIPAC denied
government pressure, presiding Judge T.S. Ellis said the defense claim was
credible.
The criminal trial of Rosen and Weissman, postponed several times, has
been scheduled for June 2. The civil suit was set for June 5.
AIPAC ended up firing Rosen and Weissman for what a spokesman said was
their failure to "comport with standards that AIPAC expects of all its
employees." Rosen's civil suit has sought $21 million from AIPAC for
defamation. Weissman, Rosen's co-defendant in criminal proceedings taking
place in U.S. district court in Alexandria, Va., did not join the defamation
suit.
"Should it come to trial, the civil case promises revelations of how
AIPAC works its sensitive relations with the executive branch and allegedly
capitulated to government pressure to fire Rosen and Keith Weissman, its
then-Iran analyst," the Jewish Telegraphic Agency said.
The Rosen suit also lists Patrick Dorton, hired from the outside to be
spokesman for AIPAC during the prosecution of Rosen and Weissman. Others
named in the suit were AIPAC executive director Howard Kohr as well as a
group of past presidents.
"To be effective, organizations engaged in advocacy in the field of
foreign policy need to have earlier and more detailed information about
policy developments inside the government and diplomatic issues with other
countries than is normally available to or needed by the wider public," the
suit said.
Rosen has returned to a high profile role within the pro-Israel
community. He has launched a blog that monitors the Middle East policy of
President Barack Obama and criticized the appointment of former U.S.
ambassador to Saudi Arabia Charles Freeman as chairman of the National
Intelligence Council.
"Agencies of the government sometimes choose to provide such additional
information about policy and diplomatic issues to these outside interest
groups in order to win support for what they are doing among important
domestic constituencies and to send messages to select target audiences,"
the civil suit said.
Rosen and Weissman were indicted in 2005 on charges of receiving U.S.
classified information on Iran. The indictment came a year after an FBI raid
on AIPAC offices in August 2004.
The civil suit said AIPAC defended Rosen and Weissman following the FBI
raid and gave Rosen a bonus. But in March 2005, both men were fired and
AIPAC stopped paying their legal fees.
"Through their publication of the falsehoods about Mr. Rosen, defendant
achieved an increase of millions of dollars in revenue for AIPAC, whereas
had they told the truth, AIPAC might well have suffered a significant
decrease in fund-raising, as well as an increase in legal costs," the suit
said.
